Page 40 of If Anything Happens To Me

“The Sibylline oracles?” Minerva asked. “From the sign out back? A lot of people come in here with questions about it.”

“That’s what Sirena said,” Iris noted.

“Ah, I wondered how you knew my name.” Minerva nodded. “Is this for a school project? Or are you just into art, history, the waterfront?”

“We need to find out about the sibyls. Especially about the other paintings of them,” I said, avoiding the question directly. “Sirena said the sibyls were distant relatives of yours.”

“They sure are,” Minerva said. “Three badass sisters who also happened to be oracles. It fires my imagination to think of being related to them. They’re actually the inspiration for the sea witch design. I immortalize them in precious metals and enamel. I make talismans. And they inspire me to throw the tarot, and to work on my powers . . .”

I heard Minerva’s words, but instead of looking at her, I was staring into her showcase. I felt mesmerized, as if I was under a spell—a lost memory making my legs feel liquid, like I might sink to the floor. Eloise was here, I felt her with me. What was she trying to tell me?Family trauma, I heard my sister say, and I silently thanked her.

“Sirena mentioned a tragedy,” I said, looking back at Minerva. “She said you carry its weight.”

Minerva didn’t speak for a long moment. She regarded me with cool eyes, as if deciding whether to tell me or not. “Weight. That’s an interesting word. I suppose it’s apt. A burden. See, the sisters passed down a gene. It affects some of the women in my family.” She took a deep breath. “Some of my relatives call it ‘a curse.’?”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Don’t be. I choose to give it a positive power. The gene adds to how special the Sibylline sisters were. I think of it as a spell, a kind of scientific magic. In fact, I think it’s the key to their clairvoyance. Possibly to mine. Definitely to my great-aunt’s.”

Do science and magic go together?I wondered.

“It sounds evil,” Iris said. “And thereisevil in the world. I know it.”

“I don’t think of it that way,” Minerva said. “I choose to concentrate on the beauty, their talents, the way the sisters shone their light into the world. I don’t like to think of that darkness.”

I glanced at my phone to see what time it was. Forty minutes had passed, and Matt would be coming back soon.

“Minerva,” Iris said. Her voice was shaking, and I could see the emotion on her face. “I’ve seen other paintings of the sibyls. Panels. In an attic.”

Minerva’s eyes widened. “How do you know about those?”

Iris gasped. “So you’ve seen them, too? This is so important, Minerva—it’s actually life-and-death.”

“Life-and-death?” Minerva asked, frowning.

“Murder,”Iris said. “It already happened once. To Oli’s sister.”

I heard the words, but once again, I was drawn to the image of that white witch. And suddenly, all the fog lifted, the swirls of worry and urgency, the quest to find Hayley. I thought of the gold dust sprinkled amid the dry leaves and dirt that had covered Iris’s face. I reached into my pocket, and my hand closed around the charm I had found at my sister’s and Iris’s burial spot.

The tiny enameled gold disc with—not a white witch, but a ghost girl—so delicately painted on it.

And I knew, at that moment, that the charm I’d found in the Braided Woods had been made right here, by the girl standing in front of me. By Minerva.

I had to stay calm, not freak out, not give Minerva any clue that I knew her charms were somehow connected to the girls’ disappearances, to my sister’s murder.

“Murder?”Minerva asked, echoing Iris.

“Yes!” Iris said. “A girl was murdered. And my sister could be next. She and I were kidnapped by some boy. He left me for dead in the woods, and he still has my sister.”

Minerva looked completely shocked.

“And the panels,” Iris went on. “With the oracles on them. They’re in the attic where my sister’s being held.”

“This is too weird,” Minerva said, holding her head in her hands. “I have to think about this.” She began to pace.

“Well, think fast,” Iris said. “I have to find Hayley!”

“And can you tell us everything you know, about the panels or the oracles?” I asked Minerva, striving to keep my voice even.

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